Tangled Passion by Stanley Ejingiri

from the girl Longstands had an affair with and for whom his diary was full of confessions of love, praises, and admirations. The reality was that Nathan didn’t care if his father forgave him or not; the man’s hypocrisy simply disgusted him. And he was aware that his father was spending a great deal of his time trying to figure out where the diary was hidden and most likely plotting ways to retrieve it. But he knew his father very well—the man was a successful war strategist, recognized and respected by his country so Nathan had taken all precautions in advance. Even though he’d never expected to use the diary as a tool for blackmail, he knew that it was something to be handled with care. Way before the trip, he had deposited it in a safety box in a bank out of town under a different name. He’d torn out a page only at the last minute because he simply wanted a friendly discussion with his father about his half-brother or sister.
    “Son, all I want to know is that the diary is safe and in a place where it is not likely to fall in the hands of people that might use it to gravely harm me,” Longstands had pleaded with him on one occasion.
    “Yes Father, it is safe but I am not telling you where it is,” he’d replied.
    “I am sure you are aware of the kind of danger you could expose me to by even the slightest carelessness with that diary, Nathan.”
    “Please Father, you were careless enough not know where it was for all these years and it didn’t seem to bother you, so why do you want to make me feel guilty now? Besides, why is it such a dangerous book? After all, the contents are genuine confession of feelings you felt for a human being, not an animal; I don’t see any problem with that.”
    “Very well then,” Longstands barked and stormed out of his son’s room. The boy was simply impossible and he was determined to try another strategy.
    Barely two days after the conversation with his father, Nathan returned from the beach earlier than usual only to find three slaves standing in his room. They were startled by his presence and made to leave immediately but he ordered them to sit down. It was totally suspicious that three men were needed to clean his room; something that took a female slave less than twenty minutes to do. In less than ten minutes, Edwards joined them. “Ask them what they are doing here and tell them that I already know what it is and who sent them. If they lie to me they’ll receive the worst punishment they could ever imagine but if they tell the truth, I will let them go and never mention it ever,” Nathan said to Edwards. Then he sat down and watched Edwards struggle to translate.
    When Edwards was done translating, Nathan watched the slaves consult each other and then give Edwards their response.
    “Yes?” Nathan said, feigning impatience.
    “Massa, tell us look for book,” Edwards told Nathan; fear evident in his eyes. The last thing a slave wanted to do was cause a squabble between a Massa and his son and Edwards definitely didn’t want to be part of it.
    “It’s okay; tell them they can leave now.”
    The slaves scrambled to their feet even before Edwards finished his translation and vanished from the room.
    “Edwards, quickly go and tell them that I said when they see my father they should not tell him what happened. They should simply tell him they didn’t find the book. Go quickly Edwards,” Nathan added.
    “Yes Massa.” Edwards nodded and scurried out of the room. Nathan lay in his bed and laughed quietly, deciding that he’d pretend not to know about his father’s latest attempt to find the diary in his room.
    He was still thinking about his parents and how funny they could be when a knock on his door paused his thought. “Yes, who is it?”
    “You have mail Nathan.” It was his father’s voice.
    “Mail?” he replied jumping to his feet and snatching a nearly battered brown envelope from his father’s hand.
    “Thanks!” he said and locked his door.